Community

At HSBC we believe that access to education and natural resources are essential to resilient communities. Through our Education Programme we help young people gain access to education and to develop life-skills. Through our global HSBC Water Programme we help protect valuable river systems and provide hundreds of thousands of people with safe water and sanitation. Our community investment initiatives support charities and enable our employees to get involved through volunteering.

Giving to charity

As well as making charitable donations, HSBC operates a number of programmes to help our customers and employees donate to charity.

In 2006, we were the first bank to enable customers to donate to our six national charities and Disasters Emergency Committee appeals via our ATMs. Since then, more than GBP2.2 million has been donated to causes including the Typhoon Haiyan Appeal, the fastest and most generous response to a crisis appeal by our customers using our ATMs.

Our six national charities are selected by our employees every two years. Our partners for 2014/15 are: Alzheimer's Society, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Dogs Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Supporting access to education

At HSBC, we recognise the value of education and the life-changing opportunities it can bring. Education is also an essential building block to driving economic development, helping to create thriving communities and inspiring young people to achieve their potential.

Our education programmes, collectively known as the Young People Programme, reach more than 50,000 young people in the UK through 13 schemes supported by an investment of GBP14 million a year. Here are two of the programmes HSBC supports:

Opportunity Partnership

In 2013, HSBC created the three year, GBP30 million Opportunity Partnership working with four specialist charities - Catch22, St Giles Trust, The Prince's Trust and Tomorrow's People - to help 25,000 disadvantaged young people in the UK get their lives on track. In the first year of the Partnership, we have helped more than 9,000 16 to 25 year olds into education, training and employment. To find out how we are helping, watch our video

The Prince's Trust Fairbridge programme

In 2012, HSBC launched a community programme to donate GBP5 million over five years to The Prince's Trust Fairbridge programme. This aims to help 3,000 vulnerable 13 to 17 year olds who have either been excluded or are in danger of being excluded from school. It works to get them back into education, training and employment. Three years into the programme, nearly 3,500 young people have been helped, and hundreds of HSBC employees have helped run money management and employability workshops.

Encouraging volunteering

Employees can volunteer for national programmes such as the Opportunity Partnership and HSBC Water Programme, as well as local grassroots projects.

We believe it is important to support employees working on our community projects and grant them a day’s paid leave each year to lend their support.

Any employee engaged in a project within their local community that offers volunteering opportunities for bank employees and has a positive, lasting impact, can apply for funding of up to GBP35,000 a year for their chosen registered charity. Supported projects include building sensory gardens in hospices, supporting city farms, and working with schools and universities on a 'Stockmarket' project.

In 2014, 75 local projects received nearly GBP500,000 of funding and nearly 2,000 HSBC employees volunteered 15,825 hours of their own time.